Serial 7A:The Trial Of A Time LordSegment One
(aka The Mysterious Planet)

Plot

An amnesiac Doctor is put on trial for his life by the Time Lords and
their prosecutor, the Valeyard, who uses the Matrix to show the court the
Doctor's recent past. The TARDIS arrives on Ravolox, a planet in the far
future supposedly ravaged by a solar flare. In fact, it is perfectly
habitable and home to the warlike Tribe of the Free, led by Queen
Katryca. The Doctor and Peri soon discover that Ravolox is actually Earth,
having been somehow moved light years across space, and that a second race
of people lives underground, governed by the robot Drathro. They also meet
conmen Glitz and Dibber, who have come to steal Drathro's secrets. But
Drathro is dying, and his passing will set into motion a chain of events
which will tear Ravolox apart.

Production

The first half of 1985 saw a succession of grim tidings confront
Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Eric
Saward. First, in February, the BBC decided to postpone the start of
production on Season Twenty-Three by a full year, from Spring 1985 to
Spring 1986. This, in turn, would delay the start of transmission from
January to September 1986. When Doctor Who returned, it would
revert to the twenty-five-minute format of its first twenty-one seasons,
as opposed to the forty-five-minute episodes which the production team
had implemented for Season Twenty-Two. And finally, around the end of
May, it was decided that Season Twenty-Three would consist of just
fourteen episodes. This flew in the face of the spirit (if not the
letter) of earlier claims that the return to shorter episodes would mean
longer seasons; it was also very demoralising for both cast and
crew.

Under the circumstances, Nathan-Turner hoped that he might finally be
assigned to a new programme, but BBC Head of Series and Serials Jonathan
Powell asked him to remain on Doctor Who for one more season. As
such, Nathan-Turner and Saward began to plan for the future. They agreed
that the shorter season meant that they needed to approach its format
more creatively than in the past, and Saward suggested that all fourteen
episodes could be linked by an umbrella theme. Since none of the stories
already in development would suit this structure, they would have to go
back to square one and start work on Season Twenty-Three all over
again.

The season-long scenario would see the Doctor put on trial
by the Time Lords -- mirroring Doctor Who's
real-life status

The idea chosen by Nathan-Turner and Saward to run through the season
was a scenario in which the Doctor was put on trial by the Time Lords --
effectively mirroring the series' real-life status. This met with the
approval of Powell and BBC1 Controller Michael Grade, although Grade
argued for the introduction of a new Doctor to revitalise the programme
in the eyes of the audience. Nathan-Turner successfully defended Colin
Baker, suggesting that the actor just needed more time to win over the
viewers.

The production team then worked to establish the framework of the new
Season Twenty-Three. The Doctor would be summoned for trial, with Time
Lords from the future brought back in time to comprise the jury and
officials. The judge and prosecutor would be selected anonymously by the
Matrix but, as the season progressed, it would be revealed that this
process had been tampered with -- raising suspicions as to the true
motives of both characters. Eventually, the prosecutor would be unmasked
as an evil future Doctor. The evidence in the trial would take the form
of the Doctor's exploits; inspired by Charles Dickens' 1843 novel A
Christmas Carol, there would be stories from the Doctor's past,
present (that is, his most recent adventure prior to the trial) and
future. On instructions from Grade, there would be a greater emphasis on
humour over violence, following repeated viewer complaints during Season
Twenty-Two.

Whereas Nathan-Turner had rejected Grade's advice to change his leading
man, he did feel that it was time to replace Nicola Bryant's Peri with a
new companion. Peri would be killed off midway through the season, with a
new character named Melanie “Mel” Bush joining the Doctor
thereafter. In the meantime, though, the relationship between the Doctor
and Peri would be softened, as neither Baker nor Bryant had enjoyed the
constant bickering which had defined their characters' rapport throughout
Season Twenty-Two. An outline for Mel was released on July 5th, indicating
that she would be a computer programmer and fitness enthusiast from Pease
Pottage, West Sussex. The same day, descriptions of the trial judge and
prosecutor were also distributed. These characters were now referred to as
the Inquisitor and the Valeyard -- the latter being an obsolete term for a
“Doctor of Law” and hence a clue to the prosecutor's true
identity.

The Valeyard was named for a term meaning “Doctor of
Law” -- a clue to the prosecutor's true identity

The structure of Season Twenty-Three was of great concern to Nathan-Turner
and Saward, since there would be so few opportunities to enjoy the
“first night” boost of a new serial. After dismissing a format
consisting of two four-part and one six-part adventure, consideration was
next given to reserving two episodes to set up and resolve the season's
story arc, bookending three four-part serials. Soon, though, it was
determined that there was no need to devote an entire episode to
establishing the trial storyline. Instead, the year would begin with two
four-part tales, before wrapping things up with three two-part stories.
This was agreed upon in a meeting of the season's writing team on July
9th: the first and last stories would be written by Robert Holmes, the
second by Philip Martin, the third by David Halliwell, and the fourth by
Jack Trevor Story.

Holmes' involvement was important to Saward in particular, who had enjoyed
a good relationship with the former Doctor Who script editor during
the development of Holmes' recent scripts The Caves
Of Androzani and The Two Doctors (as
well as “Yellow Fever And How To Cure It”, which had been one
of the abandoned storylines for the original Season Twenty-Three). Saward
considered Holmes to be a reliable veteran scribe who had a profound
understanding of Doctor Who; indeed, it was Holmes who had advised
the production team in choosing the season's writers. Holmes' scripts for
the first four episodes of Season Twenty-Three were commissioned on
September 2nd as “Wasteland”.

In the meantime, Doctor Who continued to experience a series of
highs and lows, both in the public eye and behind the scenes. While the
truncation of Season Twenty-Three had heretofore been a closely-guarded
secret, in early July the BBC accidentally sent a fax detailing the
composition of the new season to the Doctor Who Fan Club of America
instead of Lionheart, the company which distributed the programme in the
United States and Canada. Although the news quickly proliferated amongst
fans and even the British tabloid press, the BBC continued to deny the
reports until finally acknowledging the true length of the 1986 season
on December 18th. On July 16th, former writer and director Terence
Dudley -- who had most recently scripted The King's
Demons for Season Twenty -- wrote to Nathan-Turner offering to
replace him as producer of Doctor Who if he wanted to move on.
However, with the BBC unwilling to approve any of Nathan-Turner's other
proposed projects, there was nowhere for him to move on to.

John Nathan-Turner wanted to move on from Doctor Who, but the BBC had no projects for him to
move on to

On July 25th, Doctor Who returned to the airwaves -- albeit on
radio -- with the debut of Slipback, a BBC Radio 4 production
written by Saward and starring Baker and Bryant. Consisting of six
ten-minute installments (broadcast two per week) Slipback ran
as part of the Pirate Radio 4 programme through August 8th. It was
only the second original Doctor Who audio production, following the
Fourth Doctor story Doctor Who and The Pescatons which had been
released on LP by Argo Records in 1976. But while fans got to enjoy an
extra adventure to help bridge the long wait to Season Twenty-Three,
relations within the Doctor Who production office were beginning
to fray. Amongst other complaints, Saward felt that Nathan-Turner was
spending too much time wooing the programme's American fans, and
disagreed with many of his choices of actors and directors. More and
more, the script editor was working from home.

As Holmes developed his adventure, which was designated Serial 7A, its
title became “Robots Of Ravolox” and then, by November,
“The Mysterious Planet”. He drew some elements from his
earlier Doctor Who work: aliens keeping a more primitive
civilisation cowed and regularly claiming the two brightest youth had
featured in 1968's The Krotons, while 1978's
The Ribos Operation had also boasted humorous
interplay between two conmen. His scripts were delivered on January 15th,
1986, at which point Holmes turned his attention to the season's
concluding two-part story, “Time Inc”. The next day, Colin
Baker was contracted for Season Twenty-Three, with an option for
fourteen more episodes to comprise Season Twenty-Four.

A director for Serial 7A had now been engaged; this was Nicholas
Mallett, a former dancer who had shifted gears and moved into television
due to illness. Sometimes credited as “Victor Mallett”, he
had been a production manager on shows like Blake's 7 before
earning directorial experience on programmes such as Late
Starter, Crossroads and Spitting Image. Mallett had
begun to prepare for production while a copy of “The Mysterious
Planet” was sent to Jonathan Powell for his consideration, as was
routine.

Much to the production team's dismay, however, Powell's response on
February 24th was scathing. In an unusually detailed commentary, he took
issue with several aspects of “The Mysterious Planet”,
including the slow reveal of the trial scenario, the lack of clarity as to
the nature of the crisis on Ravolox, and the extent of the Doctor's
involvement in its resolution. Most frustratingly for Nathan-Turner,
Powell seemed to contradict Grade's edict that humour feature more
prominently in Season Twenty-Three, reserving some of his most stinging
criticism for elements such as the Doctor's taunting of the Valeyard and
the comic banter between Glitz and Dibber.

Robert Holmes was deeply hurt by Jonathan Powell's
criticism, a situation exacerbated by his ill health

Holmes was deeply hurt by Powell's indictment of his scripts. To
exacerbate the situation, the writer had for some time been battling
hepatitis-related health complications, and so it was an even greater
concern that he would now have to suspend work on “Time Inc”
to revisit “The Mysterious Planet”. Saward was livid, and
saw Powell's memo as demonstrating a lack of respect for the veteran
writer. Fortunately, Nathan-Turner and Mallett were able to convince
Powell that only fairly minimal changes to Holmes' scripts were
necessary. The Doctor would now learn that he is on trial early in part
one, rather than at the cliffhanger. The black light power converter was
introduced, replacing Glitz and Dibber's original interest in depriving
Katryca of a sack of gemstones. The conmen's dialogue was also rewritten
to remove the heavy use of slang.

Nathan-Turner took the lead in casting several of the roles for “The
Mysterious Planet”. Both the Inquisitor and the Valeyard would be
appearing throughout Season Twenty-Three, and Holmes was contemplating
the return of Sabalom Glitz in “Time Inc”. Mallett's initial
thought for Glitz and Dibber was to approach the well-known comedy team
of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, only to learn that their schedules
would not accommodate the planned recording dates. Instead,
Nathan-Turner offered the role of Glitz to Tony Selby, a television
veteran in programmes such as Ace Of Wands, Get Some In!
and Jack Of Diamonds. Selby also counted a number of film credits
to his name, including Villain and Adolf Hitler: My Part In
His Downfall (along with uncredited appearances in movies like
Alfie and Superman).

Cast as the Inquisitor was Lynda Bellingham. Born in Montreal, Quebec but
adopted and raised in Buckinghamshire, Bellingham had attended the
Central School of Speech and Drama. She won a regular role in General
Hospital before moving on to such shows as Z Cars, Blake's
7 and Angels, together with movie appearances including
Confessions Of A Driving Instructor. Bellingham was perhaps best
known as the mother in a popular series of commercials for the Oxo brand
which had been running since 1983.

Finally, the role of the Valeyard went to Michael Jayston. A successful
stage actor, Jayston had appeared in many filmed versions of
Shakespeare, including a starring role in the 1970 Macbeth. He
then took lead roles in movies such as Nicholas And Alexandra
(with the future Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, as Rasputin) before
gravitating back towards television, including the 1975 version of
Jane Eyre, Quiller and Tinker Tailor Soldier
Spy.

The opening shot of the TARDIS being drawn to the space
station marked the first use of a motion-controlled camera in Doctor Who

To ensure that Doctor Who's return to the screen made a dazzling
first impression, Nathan-Turner decided to spend lavishly on the opening
footage of the TARDIS being drawn to the Time Lord space station. For
the first time, a motion-controlled camera would be used for Doctor
Who, trained upon an elaborate six-foot-wide model of the station.
The 45-second shot, filmed at Peerless Studios in Elstree,
Hertfordshire, took a week to complete and cost more than £8,000.
This made it the most expensive sequence in Doctor Who to that
point, although some of the cost would be offset via its partial reuse
in establishing shots throughout the season.

Meanwhile, Nathan-Turner had hired a young freelance composer named
Dominic Glynn to provide the incidental music for “The Mysterious
Planet”. At the eleventh hour, on March 27th, Nathan-Turner
decided to commission Glynn to create a new arrangement of Ron Grainer's
Doctor Who theme tune. He would be required to submit an initial
version of his composition less than a week later, on April 2nd.
However, the short notice meant that Glynn hadn't even had time to
finish setting up his home studio, nor the opportunity to acquire a copy
of Grainer's sheet music (though he was able to deduce it by ear).
Nonetheless, Glynn was able to meet his deadline, and further refined
his arrangement throughout the month of April.

At the same time, Mallett was preparing for the start of the location
shoot, which took place in Hampshire from April 8th to 11th. Unusually,
the Doctor Who team was effectively returning to the same area used
for the preceding serial, Revelation Of The
Daleks. However, because the earlier recording had occurred under
wintry conditions, it was felt that there would be no objections to going
back there so soon. There would also be a different appearance to the
material recorded by Mallett's team, as the decision had been made to
dispense with film (except for model and effects shots) and instead use
Outside Broadcast (OB) videotape on location, a medium which had only
occasionally been employed in the past. This would make editing easier
and blend better with material taped in the studio.

April 8th and 9th were spent in the Queen Elizabeth Country Park at
Horndean; the first day dealt with scenes in the wilds of Ravolox, while
the second concentrated on the area around the tunnel entrance. On the
10th and 11th, the camp of the Tribe of the Free was actually Butser
Ancient Farm near East Meon, a reconstruction of an Iron Age
agricultural settlement in operation since 1970.

At 14 episodes, The Trial Of A Time
Lord would be the longest Doctor Who
story ever

By now, Nathan-Turner had decided that the entirety of Season Twenty-Three
would be treated as a single fourteen-episode story under the title The
Trial Of A Time Lord. While this would provide the season with the
added promotional boost of comprising the longest Doctor Who
adventure ever (besting 1966's twelve-part epic The
Daleks' Master Plan), Saward was wary of the decision, fearing
that it would dissuade casual viewers from watching the later
installments.

In fact, this was just one of a series of decisions made by
Nathan-Turner which Saward felt were no longer compatible with his
vision for Doctor Who. With his current contract as script editor
having come up for renewal, he decided to take a leave of absence from
the Doctor Who production office, during which Nathan-Turner
would serve as both producer and script editor. This would also afford
him the time to complete the season's final episode, which Holmes was
now too unwell to finish. Finally, on April 13th, Saward resigned from
Doctor Who. Powell denied Nathan-Turner's appeal for a
replacement script editor, and instead encouraged him to try to repair
his relationship with Saward.

In the midst of all of this real-life drama, production was continuing
on the first four episodes of The Trial Of A Time Lord. Mallett's
next order of business was a two-day session at BBC Television Centre
Studio 6. Taking place on Thursday, April 24th and Friday, April 25th,
the focus was on scenes in the tunnel, the subway, and the hut used by
the Tribe to house prisoners.

Recording for the first segment of The Trial Of A Time Lord was
then intended to conclude with a three-day block in TC3 beginning on
Saturday,
May 10th. In use were the sets for the tunnel, the subway, the areas in
and around Drathro's “castle”, and the food production centre.
The scenes in the courtroom were also scheduled for the last day. Roger
Brierley had been cast as Drathro, with the intention being that he would
inhabit the costume constructed by the BBC Visual Effects Department.
During rehearsals, however, Brierley changed his mind, and Nathan-Turner
initially believed that the role would have to be recast at short notice.
Fortunately, the effects team had anticipated this development, and
assistant Paul McGuiness was able to wear the Drathro costume while
Brierley read in his lines from off camera. Mallett had also alerted
Nathan-Turner to his concern that the final two episodes were badly
underrunning. As such, Nathan-Turner extended some of the courtroom
material, and also composed an extra scene in which Broken Tooth and
Balazar argue about the route to the “castle”.

Work on May 12th was delayed when it was discovered that
elements of the courtroom set had been erected in the wrong studio

Unfortunately, work on May 12th was badly delayed when it was discovered
that elements of the courtroom set had been erected in the wrong studio,
and furthermore that they would require modification to be accommodated
in TC3. This debacle limited Mallett's work on these sequences, and
forced the postponement of the scene where the Doctor arrives on the
space station. As such, this was remounted on June 13th in TC6, during
work on The Trial Of A Time Lord (Segment
Two).

Episode one of The Trial Of A Time Lord was broadcast on September
6th. The eighteen months which had elapsed since the concluding
installment of Revelation Of The Daleks
represented Doctor Who's longest absence from broadcast television
to date. By now, Nathan-Turner had come to share Saward's fears that a
fourteen-part story might have difficulty attracting viewers as the
season progressed, and so he began to write continuity announcements to
recap events; these began airing with part three. By that point,
however, The Trial Of A Time Lord had already lost one-fifth of
the 4.9 million viewers who had tuned in for the opening episode -- and
this had already represented the smallest audience for a season premiere
since The Smugglers back in Season Four. The
court of public opinion, it seemed, had already delivered its
verdict...